This is 1,000th post to the NIC-10 Sports History Book.
I wasn't really sure what to do with the 1,000th post. It seems significant to me. A professional blogger apparently averages 1,300 to 1,500 a year. I wouldn't consider myself a professional, although I now write blog posts for Rockford Sports Coalition, WROK, Thinker Ventures, Transform Rockford and Ken-Rock Community Center. Perhaps if you add all those up I might be a 1,000-a-year poster.
Since this is a stat-based blog, here are some numbers:
- As of this moment, the blog has had 144,822 page views or nearly 145 per post.
- The most viewed page was the 2016 boys basketball page with 1,360 because I was updating standings there daily to give it a boost. The second-highest page was my breakout athlete page on Jamal Meeks. Similar pages on Shawn Wax, Leonard Bell, Janice Hawkins and Kevin Polky remain in the top 10.
- The site has been viewed in Russia 4,769 times. Not sure of the importance of that stat, but hey if Putin has seen it it's cool.
- If you judge popularity by how many people click on its page, football is most popular with 1,251 page views to the football directory. Boys basketball is second at 1,027, baseball third with 592, wrestling at 495, girls basketball at 346, softball at 313, boys track & field 293, girls volleyball 248, boys golf 243 and boys soccer 237.
Because of this site, I landed a Saturday morning radio show, the Rockford Sports Coalition gig and a research project with Harlem. Through the Facebook page, I've become friends with people such as Jefferson wrestler Greg Evans, boxer Pat "The Cat" Coleman, Jefferson football star Leonard Bell, East basketball star Andre Goode and Harlem hoops great Aminata Yanni.
So it's a hobby that's become more than a hobby.
And now, because of this site, an annual event could grow out of it. I'm going to pre-empt the Rockford School District to say that District 205 and the Sports History Book are going to team up for the inaugural Rockford Sports Coalition's NIC-10 Trivia Championship. It will take place on Thursday, Dec. 7 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Owly Oop Sports Pub. (The official announcement should be this week)
It's going to be a fundraiser for the Rockford Sports Coalition, which has worked for the past 25 years to support District 205 sports so the conference returns to what it was in the 1980s, a top-to-bottom slugfest where different schools were winning each year.
It's ALSO going to be a fundraiser for the sports program of choice for the winning team. The goal in year one is to get 25 teams (four players each) to pay $100 for a night of trivia with questions on every IHSA sport in the NIC-10. Half of that will go to the Rockford Sports Coalition. Twenty-five percent will go to the winning team and 25 percent will go to a sports program designated by the winning team.
So if we fill the field and your children are playing sports at Stephen Mack Middle School in Rockton, you could win $625 for the sports programs there. If you are a Freeport alumni, you could win a few hundred to support your Pretzels. Or a Rockford team could win money for Carlson or Gregory. It doesn't have to be a school. If you work or support a community center, which perpetually is in need, put together a team and try to win a few hundred that could be used on new equipment.
All of the questions - and answers - for the inaugural trivia night will come from the NIC-10 Sports History Book or the IHSA.org site. I've already written out 32 questions and a bonus question. I have eight more to do to make sure every sport has at least one and every school, including Rockford, West and Belvidere North will be among the correct answers.
Be looking for the official announcement from District 205 and how to enter a team. At the very least, it will be a chance to throw back a couple of drinks with people who remember athletes such as Freeport's Tom Linebarger, the swimming Kitzmans, speedy Donna Cargill and volleyball's Amanda Omar.
If you have more questions about the trivia night or ideas for the NIC-10 History Book or, like Steve Groeninger of Boylan last week, you notice a mistake that needs correcting, email me at alexgary87@gmail.com.
